Venkman's Ghost Repellers

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In Venkman's Ghost Repellers, Peter's con man father arrives in New York, peddling phony ghost-repellent ponchos. Meanwhile, a seafaring expedition disappears at sea in the New Jersey Parallelogram. To save the ship - and Peter's father - the Ghostbusters enter a very weird and very dangerous dimension.[1]

A tanker off the coast of New Jersey experienced some unusually thick fog. The captain hoped it wasn't the New Jersey Parallelogram but it was. The ship collided with it and vanished.

At the Firehouse, a report on the radio is being read. The tanker disappeared 130 miles west of Ambrose Light. A total of seven ships have vanished since 1980. Ray is excited by the news and thought the Ghostbusters should investigate. Peter turned him down on the account of no one is paying them to do it. Janine arrived with a red poncho on. At her behest, they read the tag - "Venkman's Ghost Repellers." Peter is aghast and Egon is worried they'll be thrown in jail for fraud. It doesn't affect Slimer at all. Peter's father stepped in and Peter talked him out of selling anymore ponchos. While there's no law about ghosts, he still cheated people out of their money.

It's night and the Ghostbusters were almost finished with another job. Inside Warehouse #3, they captured a bunch of ghosts. The last one tried to ambush them. Winston and Egon blasted it and Peter trapped it. As they headed over to Ecto-1, the Ghostbusters gave directions to a lost truck driver. He was looking for Dr. Mulch, of the MS Applegon, who was set for an expedition to the New Jersey Parallelogram. Egon warned the Parallelogram was an area of dangerous cross rip convergence and psychic turbulence. The driver shrugged it and off and drove to Pier 70 to deliver a bunch of Venkman's Ghost Repellers.

Three days later, the Coast Guard paid a visit to the Ghostbusters. An official informed them he needed their help to rescue MS Applegon from ghosts. When Peter tried to back out, the official uttered two words, "Ghost Repellers." Meanwhile, Peter's father heard MS Applegon was overdue Tuesday and rushed to the East River Marina to rent a speed boat. Feeling guilty, he meant to help find the expedition.

The Coast Guard and Ghostbusters arrived at a fog bank and the Parallelogram's energy gate. The ship vanished on contact. Egon reversed the polarity on his P.K.E. Meter to detect for reality, and thus, the MS Applegon. Also inside, Peter's father found Applegon but was chased by ghosts. The Coast Guard and Ghostbusters later found Applegon and towed it back to reality. However, they spot an empty speed boat. They journeyed back in, dodged the Battleship Bismarck, and landed in a dome-like structure. They saved Peter's father from a group of ghosts but the blasts weakened the structure. As it collapsed, the Ghostbusters and Peter's father vacated the Parallelogram. They watched as it sank into the ocean. Egon wished they could have studied it but Ray cheered him up.

Back at the Firehouse, Peter got a postcard from his father. He got a job selling ice boxes to Eskimos in northern Alaska.

Peter: "Egon, what's going on here?"Egon: "Well, can you imagine folding yourself?"Peter: "I guess so..."Egon: "Do you know what origami is?"Peter: "Egon, you little maniac! Are you saying that this place folds reality?"Egon: "Actually, it crumples it up."

Richard Mueller first created Peter's father in his paperback adaptation of the Ghostbusters movie.[2]

Richard Mueller wrote this episode as a tribute to the US Coast Guard. He remarks on the DVD that the cutter shown is accurate with the exception of its colors. Mueller, himself, is a Coast Guard veteran and was stationed aboard a cutter.

Two versions of this episode exist. When the Ghostbusters save Peter's father, one version has series music, while the other has "Hometown Hero" (performed by Tahiti—from the soundtrack album). The Tahiti Music Version can be found on the Magic Window home videocassette released in the 1980s. Multimedia samples can be found on Spook Central's Alternate Episodes page.

The Bermuda Triangle is referenced twice in the episode.

The Ghost Repeller is tested on Slimer like a bull to a red flag.

After trapping the Pier Ghosts, the Ghostbusters encounter the driver from "Sea Fright," whose truck was blown up.

Ray and Peter play Checkers.

Dr. Mulch's name was based on the Murch character from the movie "The Hot Rock." [3]

Ray referenced Atlantis when commenting on the psychic energy present at the New Jersey Parallelogram, that it had enough to raise the fabled city.

Richard Mueller commented the torpedo scene may have been influenced by "The Hunt for Red October," which he just saw when he wrote the script for this episode.

When the Ghostbusters go back in for Peter's father, they encounter the Battleship Bismarck.

After the trip to the dome structure, Peter noted he hated rides like that in Coney Island.[4]

The layers of the New Jersey Parallelogram are reminiscent of when the warp drives are engaged on Star Trek.

A few other victims of the Parallelogram can be briefly seen, including a pirate ship.[5]